Congress Shows Interest In Investigating Illegal Domestic Spying

Wired's Threat Level blog reports on some movement in the right direction regarding Congressional oversight of executive power:

A congressional panel will ask the National Security Agency's internal watchdog to investigate whether the super-secret spy agency eavesdropped without warrants on a Muslim scholar and later hid that evidence in a 2005 terror prosecution that got him a life sentence.

The House's Select Intelligence Oversight Panel and the judge overseeing the case want the NSA's inspector general to find out if the government did not disclose evidence that might have cleared the name of a Northern Virginia spiritual leader Ali al-Timimi, Rep. Rush Holt (D- New Jersey) told the New York Times.

That sort of investigation would signal a newfound willingness by the NSA's inspector general to look closely at the program and could show that the warrantless wiretapping issue is not going to be swept under the rug with the arrival of the Obama Administration in January.

Continue reading.